All across Sloatsburg streets are tagged with yellow badges in the shape of a fire department’s maltese cross. A mystery to many residents but very useful street art for a fire truck on the fly. The yellow street badges mark locations for Sloatsburg’s some 100 fire hydrants and were part of Dan O’Leary’s community service Eagle Scout project.

O’Leary, currently a senior at Suffern High School, is a Junior Assistant Scout Master in Troop 46, Tuxedo, and has been in scouting since he was a Tiger Cub (Troop 26 in Sloatsburg) in first grade. The road blazing was part of O’Leary’s long and winding road to achieve the honor of Eagle Scout, the highest rank in the Boy Scouts program and an exclusive, lifelong club.

The whole Eagle Scout project takes plenty of time and effort — there are badges to be earned and a project that must be approved and stamped by nearly everyone, from the scout hierarchy to the community parties involved. The Eagle Scout service project must demonstrate leadership and commitment for the benefit of a religious institution, school, or the community.

”I chose to mark fire hydrants because I had seen the Maltese cross in front of fire hydrants in other locations,” said O’Leary about his Sloatsburg community project. “I realized that doing this for our village would help the fire department locate the hydrants faster, therefore, help them save lives and property.”

O’Leary and a posse of fellow scouts and friends actually began blazing Sloatsburg streets over the last few days of June, after O’Leary was given the final go-ahead from Village Hall and he was able to organize donations for supplies from local businesses. O’Leary had to scout out each individual village fire hydrant to ensure roadway access for the badging. Hydrants along Route 17 and Sterling Mine Road are the only ones in the village without street badges. Both roads are designated as state and/county roads and couldn’t be painted (without a much more complex review process). O’Leary still inspected hydrants on those roads, and from donations, purchased and installed missing markers along Rt. 17 and Sterling Mine Road, as well as a few other places in the village.

O’Leary went before the Hudson Valley Council Eagle Board of Review on August 25, and after an hour-long interview, was told he’d earned the rank of Eagle Scout. A flag was flown over the Capital in Washington, DC shortly afterward in his honor. The flag flown at the Capitol is expected to be presented to him by his grandparents at his Eagle Court of Honor on Nov. 11.

The project showed him the complex process and persistence it takes to plan a community-wide project, said O’Leary. “I learned to be responsible and what it takes to be a good leader,” he said. “Being in charge holds a person to higher standards and I had to acclimate myself to that level of responsibility.”

O’Leary is latest in a line of recent Sloatsburg Boy Scout Troop 46 members who have earned their eagle wings. Justin Leanza, also a senior at Suffern High School, recently underwent his Eagle Scout Court of Honor ceremony at the Eagle Valley Fire House. Leanza’s project involved constructing an exercise pathway with three stations through Pine Grove Lakes.

Daniel Patrick Green, a junior at Suffern High School, was recognized in January by Central Ramapo School District Superintendent Dr. Douglas Adams and Board President Craig Long for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. Green’s Eagle Scout project focused on St. Joan of Arc Church in Sloatsburg, where he installed safe access electrical outlets and lighting.

Justin Kraus, from Pine Grove Lakes in Sloatsburg, also earned the rank several years back.

So, when you drive past one of the yellow maltese blazes on a street near you, remember that each marker was hand painted by a local boy scout and company working on a community project — and that someone just earned his wings.

Photos courtesy of Joy O’Leary.